This invention relates to a vibration-controlling member and, more particularly, to a member employable as such a construction material as a floor board having a surface sheet backed with a shock absorbing and vibration damping means, to be the vibration-controlling member achieving a sound-proof, or shock-absorbing function.
The vibration-controlling member of the kind referred to will be effectively utilizable as the floor board and the like for use in multistoried apartment houses, condominiums and the like buildings where no carpet is to be laid on the floor.
1. Disclosure of Prior Art
Carpet is commonly laid on the floor to reduce the amount of noise transmitted to downstair rooms, but wood flooring is now employed instead of the carpet since carpet is likely to house such noxious insects as ticks or the like. When the wood flooring is employed, on the other hand, the particular flooring is still hard enough to propagate any slight impact sound as undesirable noise to the downstair rooms, and it is desirable that the flooring be provided with a shock absorbing and vibration controlling member.
For prior art usefully employable in making a vibration-controlling member, there may be enumerated U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,482 granted Mar. 10, 1981 to N. Udagawa, U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,616 granted Nov. 15, 1983 to A. Angioletti, and so on. Udagawa discloses a three layered vibration-absorbing flooring comprising a layer of granular baked clay filling between two synthetic resin layers of a fire-resisting resin but with fine air gaps retained between respective granules. It may be possible to form a wood flooring having the vibration-absorbing property by providing on or in place of upper one of the synthetic resin layers a wooden layer. Since the granular clay layer is, however, freely variable in the volume, it has been necessary to enclose the entire structure within a covering of a metallic sheet or the like, so that material costs would be increased while rendering manufacturing steps to be complicated, and still the resultant flooring has been poor in the workability. In Angioletti, on the other hand, there is shown a flooring in which a layer of heat insulating shavings of elastomer or wood dispersed in plastic matrix is formed between a top layer of tiles of ceramic, plastic or the like material and a textile backing layer. In this case, too, the top tile layer may be made of wood so as to form a wood flooring which is provided with shock resisting and absorbing property due to an elasticity of the plastic layer in which the elastomer or wood shavings are dispersed. In attaining a high vibration absorbing or controlling property, it is preferable and effective to elevate the loss factor in impact receiving layer by rendering the grain boundary friction interposed. In the case of the plastic layer of Angioletti, however, the grain boundary friction has been unable to attain and there has been a problem unsolved in providing the impact receiving layer showing a highly reliable vibration control.
2. Technical Field
A primary object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide a vibration-controlling member which is sufficiently elevated in the vibration-controlling action by rendering the grain boundary friction interposed, while allowing the member to be easily manufactured at a lower cost and to be excellent in the workability and usage.
According to the present invention, this object can be attained by rendering the vibration-controlling member of a top surface element and a shock-absorbing and vibration-controlling means disposed against one surface of the top surface element such that the shock-absorbing and vibration-controlling means comprises a powdery substance having the shock-absorbing and vibration-controlling action and contained in a retainer adhered to the one surface of the top surface element.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention shall be made clear in following description of the invention detailed with reference to preferred embodiments shown in accompanying drawings.